The Cardiff Blues centre missed Walesâ historic World Cup 2011 campaign through a wrist injury, and has made only two international appearances since the end of the 2008-09 season.

Former Welsh flanker Emyr Lewis claimed that Henson âdidnât deserveâ a place in Gatland’s side, but the New Zealander has decided to hand the 29-year-old a chance to resurrect his international career.

Henson is rated highly by the Wales coaching team and his ability to cover at fly-half, centre and full-back makes him a valuable commodity.

Fresh faced: Henson in action for Wales back in March 2009 (Picture: PA)

Speaking of his choices, Wales manager Gatland said: âWe have had to strike a balance with this squad. The majority are those players who excelled for Wales during the Rugby World Cup, but we are also taking the opportunity to look at one or two youngsters before probably cutting our numbers even further before the start of the RBS 6 Nations.

âWe have kept a couple of older heads and we have injuries, with Alun Wyn Jones, Josh Turnbull, Rob McCusker and Luke Charteris all unavailable to us, but the emphasis on development and planning for the future is there for everyone to see.

âThese are exciting times for Welsh rugby. We showed a huge amount of potential at the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand and we’ll be working as hard as humanly possible to ensure we reach our potential in this year’s Six Nations Championship.â